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IvOVER'S LEAP 



HOT SPRINGS, 



PAST AND PRBSENT. 



BY 



SALLY ROYCE WEIR. 



PRESS OF 

S. B. Newman & Co., Knoxville, Tenn. 
1906 






LIBRARY sfCONGflESS 
Jw Cfie* llecehred 

OCT 9 1906 

^ CwrifW Entry 

CLASS /X' XlU., Ilk 

iS-JS-cP- is, 
COPY B. 



^ 



HOT SPRINGS, PAST AND PRCSCMT. 



BY SALLY ROYCE WEIR. 



A 



S a green island lies like a gem on the 
bosom of the ocean, so the lovely valley 
of Hot Springs lies in the heart of the 
Alleghany Mountains. The particular range in 
which it is situated is called the "Great Smoky 
^Mountains, " and is appropriately named. A 
soft blue haze like smoke pervades the air at 
all times, even after a heavy rain, and a per- 
fectly clear day is rare. Soon after leaving 
Asheville the mountains close in to the narrow 
gorge through which the French Broad river 
runs, with only room for the railroad track, and 
in many places that has been cut out of the 
solid rock. 

The river is rough and rapid, and the scenery 
only to be compared to that of some of the 
beautiful western states. Little groups of 
canoes tied to the bank show where the infre- 
quent crossings are, and steep trails leading up 



4 Hot Sprhigs, Past and Present. 

the mountains indicate some remote settlement 
in the distance. Not far from Hot Springs, 
Mountain Island stands boldly in mid-stream ; 
and the turbulent river, after dashing itself 
madly against its rocky face, is divided into two 
currents, to meet again below it after passing 
over a picturesque fall. At that place the 
train passes through the Rock Cut, a dangerous 
place on the road for any track walker, and 
already marked by one tragedy. A tramp 
nu)ther and her five forlorn little children were 
overtaken by a passenger train at this spot, and 
the mother was killed while trying to rescue one 
of her younger children. A few seconds after 
passing this spot, the train swings around a 
curve, and dashes on to the bridge at Deep 
Water. Here the river is so narrow that one 
would think an active boy could jump across 
it, but the water is forty feet deep or more, and 
in a wreck at this point some years ago the 
engine and tender were completely buried out 
of sight, except one small corner of the tender 
w^hich could still be seen above the water. Just 
below the bridge the river is very broad and it 
is here that the valley of Hot Springs is first 
seen. It makes a beautiful picture from this 
point. The mountains fall away for a brief 
space, and the train leaving the river runs 



Hot Springs, Past and Present. 5 

through the heart of the valley, which is so 
small that the glance of an eye can take in its 
extent. In that small space a little village has 
grown up containing some handsome dwelling 
houses, a bank, five churches, a number of 
stores, an industrial school and a large hotel. 
Near the hotel are the various springs miscalled 
"hot," with a temperature of from ninety-six 
to one hundred and four degrees. These, and 
the Virginia Springs, are the only Avarm springs 
east of the Mississippi. 

As may be supposed, the Indians were the 
first to discover their medicinal properties, and 
there is evidence that they were much esteemed 
and sought by them, not only by those who 
owned them by right of possession, but by other 
tribes as well. The Cherokees were masters of 
the western part of the state, and there is still 
a large reservation of them about forty miles 
from the Springs. Evidence is not wanting that 
Indians came here, even from the Great Lakes, 
for Lake Superior copper has been found here, 
which it is supposed they brought for buying 
peace while bathing in the Springs. But few 
traditions of the Indians have been preserved 
in connection with this place, but the following 
is one which seems to combine the necessary 
elements of romance and sadness. 



6 Hot Spj'i7igs, Past and Present. 

Not far from the Springs and the hotel, 
stands a very high precipitous rock overlooking 
the river. It can be ascended by a narrow 
crumbling path through rhododendron bushes, 
and from its summit a fine view may be obtained 
of the valley. This rock is only part of a very 
high mountain which rises directly back of it, 
and is called Lover's Leap, a very common 
name ; hundreds of guests have found their way 
to the top, but I think few have heard its story. 
Lone Wolf was a mighty chief of the Cherokees, 
who ruled the steaming pools beside the Tas- 
keeoskie. Lie had three tall sons, braves of re- 
nowai, but only one daughter, a beautiful 
maiden in her sixteenth summer; Mist-on-the- 
Mountain she was called, and many braves 
sought her love, and the favor of the old chief. 
Mist-on-the-Mountain loved none of them, but 
her father desired her to marry Tall Pine, a 
wily, powerful brave, much older than the 
maiden, but who threatened to become a rival 
in power to Lone Wolf, who therefore desired 
to bind him to his interest. About this time 
there came one evening a party consisting of an 
old chief and his young men. They came as 
friends, they said, to visit a warrior so re- 
nowned as Lone Wolf, and to try the virtues of 
the steaming pools by the Taskeeoskie river. 



Hot Springs, Past and Present. 7 

They were from a very far country; three 
moons had they journeyed; also they broug-ht 
presents for Lone Wolf and his young men, 
curious belts of wampum, rich dark furs of the 
beaver, and bits of copper ore from beside the 
Great Lakes. They were made welcome, one 
moon they stayed, and the young men of the 
two chiefs hunted together. But Magwa, one 
of the strangers, a tall handsome young brave, 
saw something dearer to him than the hunt ; 
he loved the beautiful Mist-on-the-Mountain, 
and she in return loved him; but when on the 
eve of his departure he asked her father for 
her, he was sternly refused and told that she 
was promised. Seeming to acquiesce, he left 
with his party, but at the end of the first day's 
journey he was missed, and they continued on 
their way without him. The second night after 
they left, a lovely, bright June night when the 
full moon was rising over Round Top, Mist-on- 
the-Mountain left the camp, and stealthily 
made her way to the foot of this towering rock, 
that still lay in the shadow of the mountain, 
though the valley was bright in the moonlight. 
She waited listening, but there was no sound 
except those common to the night, the hunting 
call of a. wolf on Round Top, and the answer of 
its mates as thev started out in search of food. 



8 , Hot Springs^ Past and Present. 

and high on the niountain above her the wailing- 
cry of a lost child, which she knew was the 
voice of the tawny panther. All these she 
feared not, her ear was attentive to another 
sound she wished to hear. But unfortunately 
she could not see near her, crouched in the dark- 
ness of the bushes and intently watching her, 
something more cruel than wolf or panther. At 
last a slight sound, the dip of a paddle, and a 
canoe of birch bark has touched the bank. She 
starts forward to meet it, the figure in the canoe 
stoops to tie it to the bank; but the other 
watcher, the rival brave, who has followed Mist- 
on-the-Mountain to her tryst, unseen by both 
the lovers has reached the bank first, and as 
Magwa rises he strikes him a sure blow, that 
crashes through his skull, and he sinks back 
lifeless in the canoe. I\list-on-the-Mountain 
stands for a moment frozen with horror, but as 
the murderer approaches her, she turns to flee ; 
but where? He is between her and the camp, 
she can not pass him, nor can she ever return 
there after this night. In a moment she is: 
flying up the steep and crumbling path that 
leads to the top of the rock, he close behind her, 
l)ut her light foot is more fleet than his, she 
has gained the top and swiftly passes over the 
narrow path to the broader stone at the edge 



Hot Springs, Past and Present. 9 

of the rock; she hears his step behind her, but 
now she fears him not. One moment she stands, 
and takes a last look at the valley, clearly seen 
in the bright light of tlie moon, although the 
rock is still in shadow. She sees the light of 
her father's wigwam, her home no more, and 
the dark close forest of green which covers the 
valley ; the mountains stand out clear against 
the sky, and at her feet the Taskeeoskie, Racing 
Water, which swollen by the rain of previous 
days is rising into full tide, and now dashes 
against the foot of the rock. This night they 
were to have started down it on their long jour- 
ney to the distant land, and now he has gone 
alone, on a longer journey, and Avith empty 
hands; no food has he, nor bow and arrows with 
which to hunt, and faint and hungry will he be 
when he reaches the land of spirits. Far down 
the river a gleam of white catches her eye ; the 
birch bark canoe which he had prepared with 
loving care to bear his bride away to her home, 
has become loosed with the rising water, and 
has floated out on the tide with its still burden. 
His spirit calls her to keep her promise ; her re- 
solve is taken that he shall not travel alone. 
The step is close behind now% a hand is stretched 
out to grasp her, but with a glad call to her 
lover, she has sprung far out from the extreme 



10 Hot Springs, Past and Prese?tt. 

point of the rock on which she stands. A dull 
sound is heard, the ripples Aviden out, but the 
increasing' rush of the water blots them quickly 
from sight, and the two lovers have indeed 
started on their journey together. But what of 
Tall Pine, her pursuer"^ He stands like one 
stunned, cold fear at his heart, his bones frozen 
with that vision of sudden death, his limbs 
shaking, he turns in mad haste to leave the ac- 
cursed rock whence dead hands seem trying to 
push him clown ; over the narrow path he 
stumbles and down the crumbling slippery way, 
through close bushes of evergreen. Once a great 
hunter, his cunning is all gone now, and he 
sees not that tawny form crouched close on the 
overhanging limb above him, nor those eyes 
of fire that watch his every movement. One 
moment more and he is under the limb ; there 
is a spring, a snarling cry, and the heavy body 
strikes him on the shoulders; cruel teeth and 
claws sink deep in his flesh, and with a dreadful 
cry beast and man roll down the dark slope. 
The full moon rises higher over Round Top, the 
rock is at last bathed in its light, and all is quiet, 
except the lap of the water against the rock, a 
snarling sound, and the crunching of bones in 
the dark rhododendrons. 

Years have passed since that night, the 



Hot Springs y Past and Present, 1 1 

Indians are gone, the white men have taken 
their phice, the legend is almost forgotten, but 
who can say that the unseen spirits of those 
lovers do not still haunt that grim rock, the 
scene of their love and death, watching with 
jealous eyes the careless crowds that come and 
go. Only under a certain conjunction of cir- 
cumstances, say the wise, will they again be 
visible to mortal eye. If when the June moon 
rises full over Round Top the river is again in 
flood, lapping the base of the rock, then let the 
unwary night traveler beware. So at least 
think Sam Hootenpile, Jim Carver and Buck 
Forehand, three friendly moonshiners who made 
a rendezvous at the rock on such a night, June 
7, 1875, bringing jugs of the clear mountain 
dew to exchange for meal to be "packed," on 
their backs over the steep mountain trail, to the 
hidden still in the deep ravine. They were tak- 
ing a little more than their accustomed stimu- 
lant as they waited, when suddenly as the full 
moon began to rise there were enacted before 
their astonished and superstitious eyes the 
events of that other night so long ago. Again 
they heard the hunting call of the gray Avolf 
and the wailing cry of the panther, strange 
sounds in this present day; saw again the birch 
bark canoe and witnessed the death of Magwa, 



12 Hot Springs, Past and Prese^it. 

the wild flight and tragic leap of Mist-on-the- 
Mountain, and heard the dreadful death cry of 
Tall Pine. In panic they fled, each man for 
himself, leaving their jugs behind them, never 
again to rendezvous in that particular spot. 
But it was on a bright June day, and not under 
the ghostly moon, that an old man, a stranger, 
boarding in the village, started alone to visit 
Lover's Leap and climb the mountain back of 
it. As he did not return, search was made and 
he was found lying dead at the base of some of 
the rocks on his upward climb. No mark of the 
deadly rattlers which inhabit these clifl's was 
found on his person, not any sign of violence, 
and the usual verdict in such cases was found, 
"heart failure;" but can any one truly say they 
understand the mystery or the possible cause 
of such a death in such a spot? 

With the coming of the white man, the 
Indian trail by the river became in time the 
stage route and the great stock road, and there 
being no railroads through this section, the 
traffic over it was very great, stage stands and 
night stands for stock springing up along the 
road. Those were great days, and the stage 
the most important part ; the big red Concord 
stage with boot behind, and rack on top, loaded 
with passengers, and drawn by four horses; the 




'OUT OF THK .SOLID ROCK" 



Hot Springs, Past a7id Present. 13 

toot of its horn as a stand was approached, the 
important driver, the crack of his whip, and his 
imperious call, "Make way for the United 
States Mail!" Lastly the fears of timorous 
country women, that the stage, if they met it, 
would make their horses run away; the small 
fears of those who lived before the automobile 
awoke to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
This road was known as the great Kentucky 
stock road, and thousands of hogs, mules and 
cattle were driven over it every fall from Ken- 
tucky, through to Charleston, Hamburg, Au- 
gusta and other Southern points. Many other 
travelers there were, some going south in their 
own carriages with their colored servants at- 
tending, on their way to visit relatives. Such 
travelers would cry out in despair, "Oh, we 
shall never make the day's journey!" as some 
turn in the ever winding road would show, as 
far as the eye could reach, an unbroken line of 
hogs, great fat fellows which could hardly 
travel on their footsore, tender feet, but had 
not yet covered half of the long journey to their 
destination. Lagging behind were the very 
large ones, which really could not go any 
further, and were being gently urged on to the 
next stopping place, where they would be 
traded off for the night's expense. The hogs 



14 Hot Springs, Past a7id Present. 

would surround the carriage, when it reached 
the main drove, root up the wheels and crowd 
under the horses making them frantic, and it 
was with difficult and slow driving that they 
were passed at last, when probably the next 
turn would reveal another and still larger 
drove ahead. Many were the traps made on the 
road to steal some of the hogs. One that was 
very ingenious was a trap with a pivot door, 
on the floor of a bridge, with a pen, or box 
underneath, and as the hogs stepped on to it, 
it would turn, and drop them into the box 
below, one or two never being missed from that 
closely moving mass. 

The danger of traveling this road was very 
great, for there were no banks, any more than 
there were railroads, and of course no checks 
or drafts. Each man carried his money on his 
own person, and took his own risk. First, the 
merchants went south in the spring to Charles- 
ton and other cities to buy goods, and in the 
fall the drovers returned after selling their 
stock, with their hard earned money. It was 
in gold and silver, and also in notes, and was 
often carried in a belt around the waist, con- 
cealed by the clothing. 

Many were robbed, some both robbed and 
murdered on this dangerous road, where the 



Hot Springs, Past a7id Present. 15 

bushes grew so close to its side that a man had 
only to step into their shelter to be free from all 
pursuit, and the rough, turbulent French Broad 
bounded the other side. One traveler, a stock 
man, relates a thrilling experience as follows: 
I had been south with a large bunch of stock, 
and had sold them at considerable profit. My 
partner was detained on business of his own, so 
I was traveling home alone. As I was carrying 
quite a sum of money in my belt, I decided to 
take as few risks as possible, and so time my 
day's journey, when I reached the French Broad 
river, that I could stop over night at good 
places, well known to me. But as ill luck 
would have it, when I reached that part of my 
road my horse cast a shoe and became lame, 
the way being rough, so that when night came I 
was still some distance from my tavern, and 
was compelled to stop at the first house I came 
to. I was not well pleased with its appearance 
and still less so when I went inside, but my 
horse had been taken to the barn, so I thought 
I would make the best of a bad job. I saw 
three or four men about, and some women who 
were cooking the supper. The house was a 
double log cabin with an open entry way be- 
tween, and a rickety stair leading from it to two 
rooms above. After a fairly good supper of 



16 Hot Springs, Past and Present, 

fried chicken, coffee and corn pone, I asked for 
my room. I felt tired, and to tell the truth I 
did not fancy the society of my hosts, but I had 
still to wait awhile, as the woman said my room 
was not ready yet. 

Presently the man appeared with a candle 
and asked me to follow. He preceded me up 
the rickety stairs and into the rio-ht hand room, 
gave a quick glance around, set the candle on 
the table, bade me a surly good night, and I 
heard him softly turn the key in the lock, and 
depart down the stairs. I was alone, but still 
I felt there was some one, or something else in 
the room besides myself. I looked all around. 
It was a small room, and only contained the 
bed, a table and two chairs. The bed was the 
old-fashioned sort with small upright posts, and 
a curtain or flounce all around the bottom. I 
began to prepare for bed, and took off my coat, 
but my eyes were always traveling back 
towards the bed. I went up and looked at it 
but it seemed all right ; then I looked down, and 
there near my feet I saw something dark on the 
floor. I touched it with my finger, it was wet. 
I brought the candle for a closer look. The wet 
spot was blood ! Merciful heavens ! Holding 
the candle in my shaking hand I knelt down by 
the bed, and raised the flounce. There, as I ex- 



Hot Sprmgs, Past and Present. 17 

pected, lay a dead man, still warm and bleeding, 
his throat cut from ear to ear. No wonder my 
room was not ready yet ! Visitors had come too 
fast that night, and they had killed him to 
make ready for me, but could not remove him 
because the stairs came down in sight of the 
room in which I was sitting. 

Now, what must I do, stay there to be 
butchered like a sheep ? Not if I could help it. 
I realized I w^ould be no match for the three 
or four men I had seen about the place; the 
one window in the room was small, a mere peep 
hole, and was nailed down besides; the door 
was locked, sure proof of murderous intentions, 
and I knew they were listening to hear Avhether 
I had discovered anything, so I moved carefully. 
At last I thought out a plan. I turned down the 
covers of the bed clear to the foot, and with 
tremendous exertion, and the greatest care, 
lifted out the poor unfortunate and placed him 
in the bed, laying him on his side with his face 
to the wall, and covering him up well. I then 
replaced the bed flounce, blew out the candle, 
and waited behind the door, with my shoes in 
my hand. The Avindow had no curtain, and the 
night being clear, the stars gave a glimmering 
light in the room. I can never tell how long I 
waited, several years I think, Avhen I heard a 



18 Hot Springs, Past and Present. 

slight sound on the stairs, then still more 
plainly some one turnino^ the key in the lock. 
The door was pushed gently open, and I could 
count one, two, three, four pass in softly on 
tiptoe creeping- to the bed, and as softly I crept 
through the open door hearing, even as I went, 
the blow that was intended to end my life. I 
reached the ground without being discovered 
and was soon hidden in the bushes, from there 
making my way to a place of safety. 

When I reached a respectable house I re- 
turned with help, but the murderers had taken 
fright after they found I had escaped and were 
not to be found. Another traveler, a merchant, 
on his way to Charleston to buy goods, relates 
how he was overtaken by a stranger riding a 
fine horse, who engaged him in conversation. 
He felt sure from the first that the man was a 
robber who was only waiting for a good chance 
to kill him for his money, so he began, in a 
natural manner, to tell what bad luck he had 
experienced and how he hoped to borrow some 
money when he reached his destination to help 
him over his troubles. While he was talking, 
he was trying with one hand to unbuckle the 
stirrup-leather on the other side of his horse, 
thinking that with the heavy iron stirrup at its 
end he could make a good weapon of defence in 



Hot Springs, Past and Prese7it. 19 

case of need. The robber evidently believed 
him, for after awhile he rode on looking for bet- 
ter game. 

The use of this road for driving stock south 
was continued for fifty years or more, and a 
small number is still brought here from nearby 
places to be shipped on the cars. 

In those ante-bellum days there was a 
large brick hotel near the Springs, and the place 
was then called Warm Springs. The hotel was 
in old Colonial style, with a lofty porch the 
entire length of the front, which faced the river. 
The porch was supported by thirteen large 
round white columns, which were named for the 
thirteen original states and were a landmark 
for travelers. The Springs enjoyed great 
popularity in those days, since resorts were not 
as numerous as they are today, and these, and 
the Springs of Virginia, were the most fashion- 
able and desirable in the South. The best fam- 
ilies came every year in their own carriages, 
with their servants, and stayed all summer. 
There was dancing every night, and rides and 
drives in the daytime and amusements of every 
kind. The table was good, cream and butter 
from their own cows, chickens in abundance, 
and beeves and sheep in the pasture to be killed 
when wanted, embalmed beef and canned food 



20 Hot Sprijigs, Past and Present. 

being still reserved to gladden the digestions 
of the future. One favorite amusement was to 
start before daybreak and ride to the top of 
Rich Mountain to see the sun rise, and then 
down to the home of Major Broyles, at the foot 
of the mountain, for breakfast, after which, a 
guide for the cave w^as procured, Mose, one of 
the Major's negroes. The old Major was a 
veteran of the Mexican war, and a remarkable 
character in his way ; a man of high attain- 
ments and much natural eloquence, he drew a 
crowd around him wherever he went. He mar- 
ried a daughter of Col. Nash, for whom the city 
of Nashville was named. His home was in 
Tennessee, the Springs w^ere in North Carolina, 
the state line running along the top of the 
divide. Rich being the highest peak. It be- 
longed to the Major, and he named it Rich be- 
cause it Avas so fertile. The cave was near the 
home of his son-in-law, and was a great resort 
at that time, but during the w^ar was abandoned 
to robbers and deserters and now is almost for- 
gotten, but will be re-discovered some day, to 
bring wealth to the one who opens it. It has 
never been fully explored, only about three 
miles of it, but is known to contain streams of 
water, and deep caverns, and one room, the 
mountaineers say, looks as if it were frozen. In 



Hot Spings, Past and Present. 21 

one place a thirsty explorer left a glass on a 
stone ledge, perhaps forty or fifty years ago, 
and now it is embedded in the solid stone by 
the constant drip of the water. The mountain- 
eers discourage any attempt to explore the cave 
except for a very short distance, the probable 
reason being one or more illicit stills in its re- 
cesses. 

It was nearly twenty years after the con- 
clusion of the Civil War before the railroad was 
completed to the Springs. It brought an in- 
creased number of visitors for a few years, more 
than could be comfortably accommodated, then 
other resorts w^ere opened, and the number of 
o:uests diminished. In 1884 the old brick hotel 
was burned, and about two years afterwards 
the Southern Improvement Company bought 
the place, and built a hotel, no larger than the 
old one, but more modern, and designed rather 
as a winter than a summer resort. It was very 
successful for a time, but frequent changes of 
management have somew^hat diminished the 
number of visitors. The village of Hot Springs 
has been growing rapidly in the last few years, 
and some Northern people have made their 
homes here, tempted by the fine climate of both 
summer and winter. The lumbering interests 
are considerable, the lumber being cut by mills 



22 Hot Springs, Past a7id Present. 

far up in the mountains, and hauled on wagons 
to the lumber yards near the track. There is 
also a large Presbyterian Industrial School here 
for mountain boys and girls, which has done a 
good work. Perhaps the most unique house at 
Hot Springs stands on a commanding plateau 
across the river from the town, and nearly op- 
posite the hotel, on an elevation of over two 
hundred feet above the river, and the view from 
that point is magnificent. The house is of con- 
crete, heavy and solid, and of peculiar archi- 
tecture, and is the result of the patient labor 
and courage of two women, being designed by 
one of them. While men were employed to do 
the heavy labor, much of the work on this house 
was performed by the women themselves, and 
they are justly proud of their work. The 
grounds are beautiful, and filled with flowers, 
and are visited every year by hundreds of 
guests at the Springs; the place is called "The 
Tempest." The most remarkable fact about 
this place, however, is that under this plateau 
is the reservoir of hot water from Avhich the 
many Springs both in the river bed, and also 
across the river are fed. Some years since a 
well was begun near the house, and sunk to the 
depth of ninety four feet ; the project was then 
abandoned as no water was found: but clouds 



Hot Springs, Past and Present. 23 

of steam, poured from it all the time, and rocks 
taken out of it were warm to the touch. If a 
drive-well were run to the depth of a hundred 
and fifty or two hundred feet, there is no ques- 
tion but that a fine stream of quite hot water 
would be found and in that case this property 
would be valuable from a hotel man's point of 
view, for /with an abundance of land, a magnifi- 
cent view, fine climate, beautiful grounds and 
an artesian well of hot water, what more could 
the hotel man desire? Railroad men who have 
already viewed the property say it is the finest 
hotel site in the country. Two or three good 
hotels would be the best thing possible for Hot 
Springs, as competition is always good for 
trade. 

This sketch would not be complete with- 
out some slight mention of the mountaineers, 
the natives of this section. They are probably 
more purely American than any thing that is 
left us in these days of immigration and admix- 
ture with other nations. Their manners and 
customs have changed very little since "Good 
Queen Bess" by the advice of Sir Walter 
Raleigh sent their forefathers here for penal 
servitude, and founded a colony of felons. 
They still retain many of the old English 
words and forms of speech, and are ready to 



24 Hot Springs^ Past and Prese7it. 

boast at any time, as do all good Americans, of 
the fine families from which they are de- 
scended. They are uneducated, and but few 
can read, but they are very shrewd, and take 
the greatest pleasure in "doing" the unwary at 
any time. They will sell you, with an honest 
face and cheerful heart, a wild turkey or a 
bucket of dressed squirrels which they assure 
you were killed that morning, and which you 
discover, after they have left, are unfit for use ; 
but yet they don't expect you to think any the 
less of them when they return again. The Bible 
is the only book of which they have any knowl- 
edge and it they can not read, though they re- 
member all the "Preacher" said about it, and 
will quote it freely, sometimes with amusing 
divergence from the text, never thinking of ap- 
plying its rules and precepts to their own lives, 
but telling you readily wherein their neighbor 
errs. They believe the Bible means exactly 
what it says in words, are not troubled about 
the higher criticism, and if questioned about 
the parable of the Wise Virgins, it would be dis- 
covered that they believed when the Wise Vir- 
gins brought oil in their vessels with their 
lamps, that they had small tin cans filled with 
kerosene. One man reproving the "preacher" 
for some offense said, "If you talk that-a-way, 



Hot Springs, Past and Present. 25 

yon are no better than soundin' brass, and tink- 
lin' C3^mlings" (a small gonrd). They are 
brave, greatly given to hospitality, and very 
kind-hearted. 






OCT 9 1906 



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ammmammmmammtmmmmamim 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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